Dixie Stampede

Midwest Living Review

trevor meers

Nonstop country entertainment fills the arena as guests enjoy a down-home meal in this Western-themed dinner show.

Two things are certain at Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede dinner theater: You won't get bored, and you won't go home hungry. The arena show takes place inside a massive building themed like a Southern mansion, complete with spotless stables guests tour before the show, getting up and close and personal with the horses starring in the evening's acts. When diners move into their seats at tables surrounding a rodeo-style arena, the show fires up, and it doesn't let off the pedal during about 90-minutes of nonstop action. As entertainers work the arena floor, servers in Confederate and Union uniforms (you choose which side to sit on when buying tickets) dish out hearty servings of soup, roasted game hens, slabs of ham and fruit cobbler. While the courses roll out to the tables in succession, performers hold everyone's attention with a variety of musical numbers, cornball comedy and equestrian stunts. Highlights include Roman riders standing on horses running through the arena, a Native American dance complete with bison in the mist, wagon races and competition between racing pigs. Audience members get into the act by rooting for competing Union or Confederate squads -- shockingly, every show comes down a decisive tie-breaking game at the end -- or being recruited to take part in games like toilet-seat horseshoes.